Little Signs
by K T 129
Summary: Slither thinks back to the little and rare acts of kindness Thatch would sometimes show to the gang.


**A/N This is my first fanfict and if any of the characters seem OOC then I apologize. The only thing I ask for is no flames but other than that I hope you enjoy reading it. **

Slither was currently in the Nurse's office laying down on one of the beds. Yesterday he came down with a high fever and had stayed there ever since, mostly sleeping it off as he felt weak and tired and didn't have much of an appetite. Right now Slither was completely awake and was just sitting up in bed, his fever had gone down slightly and according to the Nurse it should be gone by tomorrow. It was around five o'clock and everyone else would be in the cafeteria by now eating dinner. Slither still didn't eat much but he had a small bowl of soup earlier and that was enough for him.

Yesterday and earlier today DummyGirl, Mosshead and Harpy came down to see how he was feeling. Yesterday they were basically checking up on him as he couldn't really talk and was more interested in getting more sleep. Today they chatted with him slightly before the Nurse told them they had to leave and get to class. Thatch had also came in yesterday too but he came in later on that day and no one else, not even the other gang members, knew he had came down. Thatch too wasn't able to stay long.

But one of the more surprising visit that Slither got the other day was from Casper. Slither didn't know why Casper had came down to see him, true he was friendly towards everyone and was willing to do nice things for others but it wasn't like they were friends or anything. Casper walked in and sat down on a chair by Slither's bed and gave him a quick friendly smile. "How are you feeling" he asked in a gentle tone. Slither didn't know why Casper was speaking so softly, it wasn't like his head was hurting but perhaps Casper felt it was best to speak softly to someone when they were sick. "Okay" Slither answer back as he was sitting himself up slightly.

"That's good to hear. I just wanted to see if you needed anything."

"I'm good." Slither was slightly getting annoyed although he didn't show it. He and Casper had nothing in common so there wasn't anything they could talk about. And while he suppose he should be thankful that Casper would take the time to see him it just didn't seem to matter to Slither because they weren't close, at all.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I notice the rest of the gang came in to see you, except for Thatch that is. Did he came in later?"

Slither just shook his head no and Casper gave a slight found, almost regretting that he had ask. "Sorry about that, I guess I should let you rest now. Bye." And with that Casper walk away towards the door. Slither just rolled his eyes and started getting under the covers when he heard another voice by the door. "Man I knew that Thatch was a jerk but I didn't think he was that big of a jerk." Ra, the annoying mummy was the last thing Slither needed. "I mean I thought they were friends or something right. The least he could do is come down and check up on him. Doesn't he care?"

Slither was getting angry at Ra now _Maybe you should learn to keep your mouth shut. Especially when you don't know what you're talking about_ he thought angrily.

"Come on Ra, I'm sure he would later on." Casper said as he and Ra started to walk out of the Nurse's office. Ra said something back but Slither couldn't hear what he said and by that point he didn't care. He just went to sleep.

Even though that had happen yesterday Slither was still annoyed by what Ra had said. Sure it seemed that Thatch didn't really care about his friends but that was because unless you were close to him you couldn't see the small things he does or says that shows otherwise. Albeit you would have to pay close attention or be close to him to notice them.

It was true that Thatch was a bully and that he can be a jerk and somewhat mean. But there were times where Thatch showed a slightly, very slightly, nicer side when it came to his gang and even then that took awhile. One of the more slightly obvious sign was that Thatch was the only one that referred to Mosshead as Mossy. No one else in the school had ever referred to Mosshead by his nickname and Mosshead never allowed anyone else to use it either. It had happen once or twice when someone other than Thatch had called Mosshead Mossy and both times Mosshead would simply say he prefers being called by his name. Mosshead even got slightly angry when the skeletwins kept calling him Mossy (for whatever reason) and he demanded for them to stop unless they wanted to have their bones scattered around the school yard. They quickly shut up after that. But not long after that Thatch came by calling him Mossy as he was telling him about a new prank. Mosshead didn't get annoyed or upset and seemed happy when Thatch was calling him that.

Slither couldn't remember exactly when Thatch had started using that nickname but Mosshead seem to have taken to it right away. Thatch himself used the nickname sparingly but even then Mosshead would only allow Thatch to call him Mossy. Out of everyone in the gang Thatch and Mosshead often spent the most time together, so perhaps the nickname showed how close they were.

He showed little bouts of kindness to DummyGirl from time to time as well. One time they were running through the halls when one of DummyGirl's hair ribbon came loose and fell off. Thatch notice this and quickly picked it up and tied it up again around her pigtail. When he was done he simply said 'come on' and starting running again, with DummyGirl close behind. Sure he made the excuse that he did it because it was faster but Slither knew otherwise. It wouldn't have taken DummyGirl that long to get the ribbon back in, she would have gotten it back in as fast as Thatch had. Plus there wasn't any real reason for Thatch to run back slightly and do it for her. Of course he would denied it and change the subject. However that didn't stop him from doing the same thing once or twice before, thankfully her ribbons rarely ever fall out.

There were also times were Thatch could be rarely seen carrying Dummygirl. One time she had twisted her ankle and wasn't able to walk. DummyGirl didn't even ask for help when Thatch came up to her, scooped her up into his arms and carried her bridal style to the Nurse's office. When they got there he placed her on the bed and when she said a quick thanks he merely replied "You're just lucky your not heavy." But he didn't say it in a mean tone, he tone was slightly more playful and he gave a quick smile before going over to talk to the Nurse. DummyGirl just rolled her eyes in response but you could tell by her eyes that she would be smiling too. Somedays for no reason Thatch would give DummyGirl a piggy back ride as they were talking, seemingly just doing it for the fun of it. Again it was rare but you wouldn't catch Thatch doing that with anyone else (unless you're talking about his younger cousins but that was something different all together). Each time he would give some sort of excuse such as how she doesn't weigh much, he did it so it would be faster to get somewhere and so on.

Slither leaned back against his pillow. Taking a look at the clock it was six o'clock now, dinner was over and everyone was most likely either in the dorm rooms or wondering around the school. The Nurse was gone and all of the lights, except for the one above Slither's bed, were turn off. Where the Nurse went of too he didn't know and he didn't really care. When it came Slither and Thatch's friendship Thatch had his little ways of being nice towards Slither too. Although they were rarely seen and often for some reason usually done when no one else was around. Slither was typically a quiet sort of guy, not because he was shy or anything like that, far from it, it was because he normally didn't have anything to say for the most part. He usually accepted things as they were unless he thought things should be different or he wanted to stir up trouble just for the fun of it. But normally he found himself talking more around Thatch and vice versa. While Thatch had had his moments of having conversations with either DummyGirl or Mosshead, Slither notice how he and Thatch were often engaging in more private conversations. They didn't talk about anything special just the usual such as talking about scaring fleshies, how Alder and Dash could be complete morons at times, different pranks they could pull on the students and once in a while Slither would listen to Thatch rant about how he hates Casper and so on.

Another thing that was different was that within the gang Thatch was the leader of course but Slither was sort of like the second in command. When ever a prank needed to be done Thatch always counted on Slither to make sure everything went according to plan when he couldn't be there himself or he was doing his own task concerning the prank. In a way Thatch always seemed to count on Slither most of the times and often trusted him slightly more. Next to Slither, DummyGirl would be the next most trusted. As for Mosshead...let's just say he isn't always the brightest bulb in the group. Thatch and Slither were also the only ones who had treated each others injuries. It was about three months ago when Thatch got himself cut up and bruised when he was in the Scary Woods (he still refuse to talk about what had happen or why he was there in the first place). Of course like most students he wanted to avoid going to the Nurse, but he wanted to properly get his cuts clean. So when the Nurse left the office for a bit Thatch sneaked in, took some medicine and got out.

Slither was the only one in the boys dorm room when Thatch came in. He saw the various cuts and scraps that were visible on his face and he notice some on Thatch's arms and legs too where the fabric was slightly torn from his shirt and jeans. Thatch removed his shirt and started applying Hydrogen Peroxide on his arms and what was on his chest and stomach. Thankfully he didn't have too many on either one but he knew he had a lot of scratches on his back. Slither came over and had a look on Thatch's back, it was cut up pretty bad. "Need any help?" Thatch just look at Slither for a moment before nodding his head yes. Thatch handed Slither the medicine and he began to work. To Slither's surprise Thatch hardly made a sound, there were a few deep breaths and hisses here and there when a wound had particularly stung but other wise Thatch didn't say a word. It was the same when Slither wrapped bandages around his torso while Thatch did his arms. Nothing much happen after that, Thatch said thanks and he got out a new shirt and a new pair of pants. Even though it was almost expected of Slither, or anyone else in the gang really, to help Thatch out Slither never though that Thatch would return the favor. One day Slither was slightly injured after a rough game during gym class. He was the only one in the bathroom taking a quick look in the mirror at some of the scratches he got when Thatch came in with some medicine. Without even asking Thatch just started to clean the scrapes, put on the bandages and then left. He didn't bring it up again and he acted like the whole thing never happen.

There were times where some of Thatch's actions were a little weird like how Thatch would sometimes move some of Slither's hair out of his face when they were talking. To some creatures this may suggest something more than just friendship but Slither knew better. Thatch wasn't into males like that and Slither knew that for the most part Thatch did that just to mess with him. And other times he took a more direct approach. It was yesterday and it was three o'clock when Thatch came down to the Nurse's office to have a quick visit with Slither. Slither was laying down when he saw Thatch take a seat next to his bed. "How you feeling?"

"Tired" was all that Slither said as he started to sit up slightly. Thatch just nodded his head and then he stood up and sat on the side of the bed. Slither didn't know why he would do this until he felt Thatch's hand on top of his forehead. Why Thatch would take his temperature Slither didn't know but he notice the slight frown that formed on Thatch's features. He got up and told Slither to just rest and then he left.

Slither heard footsteps coming down the hall, at first he thought that perhaps the nurse came back but quickly realize that it was only Thatch when he entered the room. "Feeling better?" he asked.

"Much better."

"I can tell just by looking at you" Thatch grabbed a seat and sat next to the bed.

"The fever should be gone by tomorrow so this should be my last night down here."

"Did the Nurse try any of her insane treatments on you?"

"Thankfully no, you wouldn't believe how relieve I was to hear that." Slither leaned back on the pillow "Anything happen while I was gone?"

"No, just same old, same old. And of course Casper being the goody goody he always is."

Slither just smile at that "The fever has gone down but I still feel slightly warm."

Thatch got up from the chair and sat on the side of the bed and move a strain of hair out of Slither's face. Slither thought Thatch would just place his hand on his forehead to check his temperature again. Well, Thatch did check his temperature but not in the way Slither expected. Instead of his hand Thatch placed his forehead on top of Slither's. Slither was greatly surprised by this action and for a moment he didn't know what to do about it. But then he remember on the occasion where he and sometimes the rest of the gang would come over to Thatch's house (although it was really a castle). On some occasion some of the younger children would get sick and some of Thatch's older relatives would check the child's temperature by placing their foreheads on the child's. They even caught Thatch doing this to some of his younger cousins and it could be assumed that the same was done to him when he was younger. Usually Slither would just assumed that it was habit but Thatch seemed to have done this action on purpose.

Thatch moved away from Slither and hopped off the bed, "You'll live."and he gave a quick smile before leaving the Nurse's office. Slither just rolled his eyes in response and lied back down, he couldn't be sure whether Thatch did that just to mess with him or if he was really trying to feel how warm he was. Perhaps a little of both. Slither felt tired and decided he should go to sleep. In the end Thatch was a bully, he could be a jerk and even mean at times. But on a few rare occasions he would show a slight softer side, mainly to his friends. You just have to know where to look and look closely.


End file.
